Good Excuses To Be Disobedient – Say This is Not God's Way

2 Kings 5:11. It is in our human nature to come up with good excuses not to obey God. One of the most subtle excuses we can give when God calls us is to say that “this is not God's way”. The Bible has many examples where people resisted God's calling because they had preconceived ideas about God. Naaman, a mighty General in the Syrian Army, almost missed God's blessing because of his preconceived ideas about God. In this example, Naaman desired to be cured of leprosy and Elisha, a man of God, gave Naaman instruction via way of a messenger on how to be cured of leprosy. Naaman was instructed to dip himself in the dirty, little river Jordan seven times. Naaman did not obey, but gave the excuse that God and His prophet would not act in the manner. Naaman's preconceived notion was that God would act in a grand and miraculous fashion to cure him of leprosy (2 Kings 5:11-12, “But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”). Naaman's companions eventually persuaded him to do as the prophet directed, and Naaman was immediately cured of his leprosy. How many of us are giving what we think are good excuses in saying that God would not do it that way? In reality we need to be continually listening and seeking to discover God, instead of trying to define what we think God should do or not do.

2 KING 5 BIBLE SCRIPTURE 2 Kings 5:11, “But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.”